This invention relates to fixing devices for electrophotographic duplicator machines, and more particularly to a solvent vapor fixing apparatus wherein fixing is effected by the use of a vaporized solvent.
In the fixing device of the nature mentioned above, it has been the usual practice to extend, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a solvent vaporizing medium e made of felt with a pendant lower end portion d within a slantingly disposed housing a, leaving a space for accommodating a tray c which carries a fixing paper sheet b. A solvent is fed to the solvent vaporizing medium e through a solvent replenishing port f in the housing a, allowing the solvent to impregnate into and vaporize from the solvent vaporizing medium e thereby effecting the fixing. The existing fixing devices of such nature have drawbacks in that the solvent cannot be soaked into the solvent vaporizing medium 4 in a satisfactorily sufficient amount and that the solvent which has a relatively large specific gravity tends to accummulate at the lower end of the housing a, with the result that it becomes difficult to effect the fixing in an uniform manner and the solvent vapor is allowed to escape from the housing every time the tray is inserted into or drawn out of the duplicator machine.